Information processing program product, information processing apparatus, and information processing system

ABSTRACT

An information processing apparatus includes an acquisition unit that acquires first communication information for connecting with an apparatus via a first network and second communication information for connecting with the apparatus via a second network, a determination unit that determines whether communication between an information processing apparatus and the apparatus via the first network based on the first communication information is possible, a connection unit that connects the information processing apparatus with the apparatus via the second network based on the second communication information when the communication via the first network is impossible, and a request unit that transmits a processing request to the apparatus via the first network when the communication via the first network is possible, and transmits the processing request to the apparatus via the second network when the information processing apparatus is connected with the apparatus via the second network.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an information processing programproduct, an information processing apparatus, and an informationprocessing system.

BACKGROUND ART

If a user having a mobile terminal can utilize a function of a remoteapparatus, such as an image forming apparatus, through wirelesscommunication between the terminal and the apparatus, it is convenientfor the user and there is no need to connect the terminal and theapparatus by wire. However, in many cases, setting of wirelesscommunication parameters is required in order to perform wirelesscommunication between the terminal and the apparatus, and the setting ofwireless communication parameters to the apparatus is not necessarily aneasy operation.

For this reason, a proposed method of setting wireless communicationparameters to a mobile terminal which does not require user's settingoperation or minimizes user's setting effort is known in the art. Forexample, see Japanese Patent No. 5121212. Japanese Patent No. 5121212discloses a management device which reads stored information from auser's NFC (near field communication) chip so as to enable a radiocommunication device (mobile terminal) to connect with a same apparatus(router, server) by using different wireless communication parameters.This management device sets in the radio communication device wirelesscommunication parameters for a home network or wireless communicationparameters for a visited network based on the read information.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

However, in the method of setting the wireless communication parametersdisclosed in Japanese Patent No 5121212, it is difficult for the user todetermine which of the wireless communication parameters are to beselected as being set in the radio communication device.

For example, when the image forming apparatus is connected to both anemployee-oriented network for employees and a visitor-oriented networkfor visitors, if the wireless communication parameters for each of thevisitor-oriented network and the employee-oriented network are stored inthe NFC chip, the mobile terminal carried by the user is able to readthe wireless communication parameters for the desired one of the twonetworks from the NFC chip and set the read wireless communicationparameters in the terminal.

However, connecting a visitor's terminal to the employee-orientednetwork is usually inhibited, and the employee-oriented network isprotected from being accessed by an outsider. An employee's terminal isrequired to communicate with the image forming apparatus via theemployee-oriented network rather than via the visitor-oriented network.Namely, a user's terminal is required to communicate with the imageforming apparatus via an appropriate network. However, in many cases,even if the wireless communication parameters may be acquired at theterminal, there is a need for the user to determine which of thewireless communication parameters for the two networks are to beselected. In many cases, determining which of the wireless communicationparameters are to be selected is difficult for the user.

Means for Solving the Problems

In one aspect, the present invention provides an information processingprogram product that enables an information processing apparatus totransmit a request to an apparatus which is connectable with two or morenetworks, without the need for a user to select a network from thenetworks.

In one embodiment, the present invention provides an informationprocessing program product including a non-transitory computer-readablemedium having a program recorded thereon that is executable by aprocessor of an information processing apparatus, the processor beingconfigured to transmit a processing request to an apparatus via one ofplural networks, including a first network and a second network, withwhich the apparatus is connectable, the program when executed causingthe processor to implement functions of: an acquisition unit configuredto acquire first communication information for connecting with theapparatus via the first network and second communication information forconnecting with the apparatus via the second network; a determinationunit configured to determine whether communication between theinformation processing apparatus and the apparatus via the first networkbased on the first communication information is possible; a connectionunit configured to connect the information processing apparatus with theapparatus via the second network based on the second communicationinformation when the communication via the first network is determinedas being impossible; and a request unit configured to transmit theprocessing request to the apparatus via the first network when thecommunication via the first network is determined as being possible, andtransmit the processing request to the apparatus via the second networkwhen the information processing apparatus is connected with theapparatus via the second network.

Other objects, features and advantages of embodiments will be apparentfrom the following detailed description when read in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B are diagrams for explaining use cases which areassumed for a printing system according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of the printing systemaccording to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of a mobileterminal.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of an image formingapparatus and an information medium.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a functional configuration of the printingsystem according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of communication information.

FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram for explaining a print job performed by theprinting system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining a connection proprietydetermination process.

FIG. 9A and FIG. 9B are diagrams showing examples of screens displayedon a display device of the mobile terminal.

FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B are diagrams showing examples of screens displayedon the display device of the mobile terminal.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing another example of communicationinformation.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining a connection proprietydetermination process in the print job shown in FIG. 7.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of animage projection system according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a sequence diagram for explaining an image projection processperformed by the image projection system according to the secondembodiment.

MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

A description will be given of embodiments with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

First, use cases which are assumed for a printing system 1 according toa first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 1A and FIG.1B. FIG. 1A and FIG. 15 are diagrams for explaining use cases which areassumed for the printing system 1 according to the first embodiment. Animage forming apparatus 20 is connected to a network N1 which isequivalent to an in-company LAN or the like, and an access point 7 isconnected to the network N1. The image forming apparatus 20 is furtherconfigured to perform P2P (peer to peer) communication via a network N2.

Use case 1, shown in FIG. 1A, is a case in which a visitor 9 performswireless communication with the image forming apparatus 20 for a printjob using his own mobile terminal 10.

(1) The visitor 9 carrying the mobile terminal 10 approaches an NFC(near-field communication) device 301 which is provided on or near theimage forming apparatus 20. This enables the mobile terminal 10 toacquire from the NFC device 301 first communication information 1100 forcommunicating with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N1 andsecond communication information 1300 for communicating with the imageforming apparatus 20 via the network N2.

(2) The mobile terminal 10 attempts to communicate with the imageforming apparatus 20 using the first communication information 1100.However, the mobile terminal 10 of the visitor 9 cannot be connected tothe in-company LAN (network N1) using the first communicationinformation 1100.

(3) The mobile terminal 10 attempts to communicate with the imageforming apparatus using the second communication information 1300. Themobile terminal 10 of the visitor 9 can be connected to the in-companyLAN using the second communication information, and the communicationbetween the mobile terminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20 viathe network N2 is started.

Hence, the mobile terminal 10 of the visitor 9 can communicate with theimage forming apparatus 20 via the network N2 without using the networkN1 (or the in-company LAN).

Use case 2, shown in FIG. 1B, is a case in which an employee 8 performswireless communication with an image forming apparatus 20 for a printjob using his own mobile terminal 10, the image forming apparatus 20being arranged in a company section not pertinent to the employee 8 andnot in regular use by the employee 8.

(1) The employee 8 carrying the mobile terminal 10 approaches the NFCdevice 301 which is provided on or near the image forming apparatus 20.This enables the mobile terminal 10 to acquire from the NFC device 301first communication information 1100 for communicating with the imageforming apparatus 20 via the network N1 and second communicationinformation 1300 for communicating with the image forming apparatus 20via the network N2.

(2) The employee 8 has the authority to connect with the in-company LANof his company, and the wireless communication parameters for connectingwith the access point 7 are set in the mobile terminal 10 of theemployee 8. If the mobile terminal 10 attempts to communicate with theimage forming apparatus 20 using the first communication information1100, the mobile terminal 10 can connect with the in-company LAN (thenetwork N1). By using the first communication information 1100, themobile terminal 10 can communicate with the image forming apparatus 20via the network N1. The communication between the mobile terminal 10 andthe image forming apparatus 20 via the network N1 is started.

Hence, the mobile terminal 10 of the employee 8 can communicate with theimage forming apparatus 20 via the network N1 (or the in-company LAN).Even if the mobile terminal 10 of the employee 8 cannot connect with theimage forming apparatus 20 via the network N1 for a certain reason, themobile terminal 10 of the employee 8 is capable of communicating withthe image forming apparatus 20 via the network N2. In such a case, theemployee 8 can request the image forming apparatus 20 to perform a printjob.

Thus, the printing system 1 according to the first embodiment reducesthe user's setting effort in setting up the communication informationand enables the automatic selection of an appropriate network for theusers, including the visitor 9 and the employee 8.

In the following, the employee 8 is an example of users of the mobileterminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20, and the employee 8 hasthe authority to connect with the in-company LAN (the wirelesscommunication parameters for connecting with the in-company LAN are setin the mobile terminal 10). The user of this type is not limited to theemployee 8 and may also be referred to as a person, a company staffer, astaff member, etc.

In the following, the visitor 9 is an example of users of the mobileterminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20, and the visitor 9 has noauthority to connect with the in-company LAN. Users other than theemployee 8 may be classified as the visitor 9.

First Embodiment

A configuration of the printing system 1 according to a first embodimentis described with reference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing aconfiguration of the printing system 1 according to the firstembodiment.

As shown in FIG. 2, the printing system 1 may include a mobile terminal10 and one or more image forming apparatuses 20. Although notillustrated in FIG. 2, the printing system 1 may include two or moreimage forming apparatuses 20. The mobile terminal 10 and the imageforming apparatus 20 may be connected by a cable or radio via thenetwork N1 or the network N2.

Since the mobile terminal 10 is an information processing apparatus thatcan be carried by a user as described later, it is preferred that themobile terminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20 are connectablewith each other by radio via the network N1 or the network N2. The term“connectable” means that both the mobile terminal 10 and the imageforming apparatus 20 have a connection function, and the determinationas to whether they are actually connectable with each other is made by aconnection propriety determination process which will be described laterwith reference to FIG. 7 or FIG. 8.

When the mobile terminal 10 is carried by the visitor 9, the mobileterminal 10 remains disconnected from the network N1 and is connectablewith the network N2 upon a request. The employee 8 has the authority toconnect with the network N1 (the in-company LAN). Hence, when the mobileterminal 10 is carried by the employee 8, an SSID (service setidentifier) and a password (an encryption key) are set in the mobileterminal 10 as the wireless communication parameters, and so the mobileterminal 10 is connectable with the network N1. Hence, if the IP addressof the image forming apparatus 20 is detected, the mobile terminal 10carried by the employee 8 is able to communicate with the image formingapparatus 20.

In the following, it is assumed that the network N1 is a wireless LAN(local area network), such as in-company LAN, for connecting the mobileterminal 10 with the image forming apparatus 20 by radio, and thenetwork N2 is a network for connecting the mobile terminal 10 with theimage forming apparatus 20 directly by P2P communication in Wi-Fi directmode. However, the network N1 and the network N2 are not limited tothese examples. For example, the network N1 may include a WAN (wide areanetwork) and the Internet, in addition to the in-company LAN, and mayinclude partially a mobile phone communication network. For example, thenetwork N2 may be a network for connecting the mobile terminal 10 withthe image forming apparatus 20 through the ad hoc mode of a wirelessLAN, a mobile phone communication network, infrared communication,Bluetooth®, etc. In other words, the network N2 may be a network adaptedto prevent an outsider from accessing the in-company resources, like thein-company LAN. Moreover, the network N2 may be an in-company LAN forconnecting the mobile terminal 10 with the image forming apparatus 20via a wireless LAN, if the network N2 is appropriately set up to beseparated from the network N1 (for example, the network N2 has a networkaddress different from that of the network N1).

In the printing system 1 shown in FIG. 2, an information medium 30 isattached to a housing (external surface) of the image forming apparatus20. Hence, the mobile terminal 10 and the information medium 30 cancommunicate with each other by near-field communication.

The mobile terminal 10 is a portable information processing apparatus,such as a smart phone, which is operated by a user. Examples of themobile terminal 10 may include a smart phone, a mobile phone, a tabletterminal, a game machine, a PDA (personal digital assistant), a digitalcamera, a wearable PC, a notebook PC, etc. An application executable bya processor is installed in the mobile terminal 10, and the applicationwhen executed causes the processor of the mobile terminal 10 to send afunction provision request (e.g., a printing command of printing targetdata, a document scanning request, a facsimile transmission request, acopying request) from the mobile terminal 10 to the image formingapparatus 20. The application when executed causes the processor of themobile terminal 10 to generate any one of a print job (including theprinting target data associated with the printing command), a scan job,a FAX transmission job, a copy job, etc., and transmit the same to theimage forming apparatus 20.

Moreover, the mobile terminal 10 includes a NFC (near-fieldcommunication) device, such as a NFC chip, which will be describedlater. A user may acquire two or more communication information items,including an IP address for communicating with the image formingapparatus 20, by holding the mobile terminal 10 to the informationmedium 30 which is attached to the housing of the image formingapparatus 20 at a predetermined position thereof. The mobile terminal 10may transmit a generated print job to the image forming apparatus 20based on the acquired communication information, so that the print jobmay be executed by the image forming apparatus 20 to output a copy ofthe printing target data.

The application installed in the mobile terminal 10 may be a softwaremodule, such as a browser, a document preparation program, or a viewer,which is configured to communicate with the image forming apparatus 20and send a job execution request to the image forming apparatus 20.

The image forming apparatus 20 may be an apparatus, such as a printer,which receives a print job or the like from the mobile terminal 10 andoutputs a copy of the printing target data. The image forming apparatus20 may be an MFP (multifunction peripheral) which has multiple functionsincluding a copy function, a scan function, a facsimile function, aprint function, etc.

Alternatively, the image forming apparatus 20 may be any of a scannerdevice, a facsimile machine, an audio output device such as aloudspeaker, an image projection apparatus (projector), a rearprojection apparatus, a BUD (head-up display) apparatus, an electronicwhiteboard, or a digital signage device. In the present embodiment, theprinting system 1 has been described as an example of an informationprocessing system. However, the information processing system accordingto the invention is not limited to the above example and may be an audiooutput system in which a loudspeaker device is used instead of the imageforming apparatus 20, or an image output system in which an image outputdevice is used instead of the image forming apparatus 20. Namely, theinformation processing system according to the invention is applicableto various systems including a mobile terminal 10 to generate variouskinds of jobs, images, and data that may be transformed into images, andan apparatus (which is the image forming apparatus 20 according to thefirst embodiment) to output the jobs, the images, and the data that canbe transformed into images received from the mobile terminal 10.Moreover, the information processing system according to the inventionmay be configured to merely carry out wireless communication between themobile terminal 10 and the apparatus without outputting data.

The information medium 30 may include an NFC (near-field communication)device, such as an NFC chip, which is attached to the housing of theimage forming apparatus 20 at a predetermined position thereof. Forexample, the information medium 30 may be an NFC tag or the like.Communication information including an IF address of the image formingapparatus 20 to which the information medium 30 is attached is stored inthe information medium 30. More specifically, communication informationneeded for the mobile terminal 10 to communicate with the image formingapparatus 20 via the network N1 and communication information needed forthe mobile terminal 10 to communicate with the image forming apparatus20 via the network N2 are stored in the information medium 30. Namely, aplurality of communication information items with respect to acorresponding number of networks by which the mobile terminal 10 and theimage forming apparatus 20 are connectable with each other may be storedin the information medium 30.

The mobile terminal 10 may acquire the stored communication informationfrom the information medium 30 through near-field communication. Asdescribed above, the mobile terminal 10 may transmit a print job to theimage forming apparatus 20 based on the communication informationacquired from the information medium 30, so that the print job may beexecuted by the image forming apparatus 20.

The information medium 30 storing the communication information to betransmitted to the mobile terminal 10 is not limited to the NFC tag. Forexample, if the communication information is stored in the image formingapparatus, the communication information may be transmitted from theimage forming apparatus directly to the mobile terminal 10 by usinganother communication process, such as Bluetooth® or infraredcommunication, which does not require a destination address. In thiscase, however, the mobile terminal 10 is required to have acorresponding function (Bluetooth® or infrared communication).

In the above-described printing system 1, the mobile terminal 10 and theimage forming apparatus 20 are configured to be connectable with eachother via the two networks, the network N1 and the network N2.Alternatively, the mobile terminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20may be configured to be connectable with each other via three or morenetworks.

In addition, the above-described printing system 1 may be configured toinclude a print server which accumulates print jobs received from themobile terminal 10. Furthermore, the above-described printing system 1may be configured to include one or more mobile terminals 10.

The mobile terminal 10 according to the first embodiment is implementedby a hardware configuration as shown in FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a diagramshowing a hardware configuration of the mobile terminal 10 according tothe first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the mobile terminal 10 mayinclude an input device 101, a display device 102, an external interface103, a RAM (random access memory) 104, a ROM (read-only memory) 105, aCPU (central processing unit) 106, a communication interface 107, an SSD(solid state drive) 108, and an NFC (near-field communication) device109. These components of the mobile terminal 10 are interconnected by abus B.

The input device 101 may include a touch panel, and this touch panel isused to input various signals to the mobile terminal 10. The inputdevices 101 may include a keyboard, a mouse, etc. The display device 102may include an LCD (liquid crystal display), and this LCD is used todisplay a processing result by the mobile terminal 10.

The external interface 103 may provide an interface for connecting themobile terminal 10 with an external device. The external device mayinclude a recording medium 103 a. An information processing program usedto implement the mobile terminal 10 according to the first embodimentmay be stored in the recording medium 103 a. The mobile terminal 10 isconfigured to read data from and write data to the recording medium 103a via the external interface 103.

The recording medium 103 a may be any of various types of recordingmedia, including an SD memory card, a USB (universal serial bus) memory,a DVD (digital versatile disk), a CD (compact disk), and a flexibledisk.

The RAM 104 may be a volatile semiconductor memory (storage device)which temporarily stores programs and data. The ROM 105 may be anonvolatile semiconductor memory (storage apparatus) which can storeprograms and data even after power-down. The programs and data stored inthe ROM 105 may include a BIOS (basic input/output system) which isexecuted upon a startup of the mobile terminal 10, the OS setting, thenetwork setting, etc.

The CPU 106 may be a processor which controls the entire mobile terminal10 and implements the functions thereof by reading out the programs anddata from the memory, such as the ROM 105 or the SSD 108, to the RAM 104and executing the same to perform a process.

The communication interface 107 may provide an interface which connectsthe mobile terminal 10 with the network N1 and the network N2 forperforming communication. For example, the communication interface 107may provide an interface for connecting the mobile terminal 10 with anin-company LAN via a wireless LAN. Moreover, the communication interface107 may provide an interface for connecting the mobile terminal 10 withthe image forming apparatus 20 through P2P communication in Wi-Fi directmode. Hence, the mobile terminal 10 is capable of performing datacommunication through the communication interface 107. In addition, thecommunication interface 107 may provide an interface for accessing amobile phone communication network, the Internet, etc.

The SSD 108 may be a nonvolatile memory which stores a program 108 a anddata. The program 108 a and data stored in the SSD 108 may include an OS(operating system) as system software to control the entire mobileterminal 10, and application programs (which will also be calledapplications) which are executed on the OS to offer various functions ofthe mobile terminal 10. In the SSD 108, the programs and data storedtherein are managed by using a predetermined file system and/ordatabase. In addition, the mobile terminal 10 may include an HDD (harddisk drive) instead of the SSD 108 or in addition to the SSD 108.

The NFC device 109 may be an NFC chip. Hence, the mobile terminal 10 iscapable of performing data communication through the NFC device 109.

By using the above-described hardware configuration, the mobile terminal10 according to the first embodiment performs various processes whichwill be described later.

The image forming apparatus 20 and the information medium 30 accordingto the first embodiment are implemented by a hardware configuration asshown in FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration ofthe image forming apparatus 20 and the information medium 30 accordingto the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 4, the image forming apparatus20 may include a controller 201, an operation panel 202, an externalinterface 203, a communication interface 204, and a printer 205.Moreover, an NFC (near-field communication) device 301 may be attachedto the external surface (housing) of the image forming apparatus 20 as aconfiguration which implements the information medium 30.

The controller 201 may include a CPU 211, a RAM 212, a ROM 213, an NVRAM214, and a HDD 215. The ROM 213 stores various programs and data. TheRAM 212 temporarily stores programs and data. The NVRAM 214 storessetting information and others. The HDD 215 stores a program 215 a anddata.

The CPU 211 may be a processor which controls the entire image formingapparatus 20 and implements the functions thereof by reading out theprogram 215 a, the data, and the setting information from the memory,such as the ROM 213, the NVRAM 214 or the HDD 215, to the RAM 212 andexecuting the program to perform a process.

The operation panel 202 may include an input unit to receive inputs froma user, and a display unit to display results of processes performed bythe CPU 211. The external interface 203 may provide an interface forconnecting the image forming apparatus 20 with an external device. Theexternal device may be a recording medium 203 a or the like. Hence, theimage forming apparatus 20 is capable of reading data from and/orwriting data to the recording medium 203 a through the externalinterface 203. Examples of the recording medium 203 a may include aflexible disk, a CD, a DVD, an SD memory card, a USB memory, etc.

The communication interface 204 may provide an interface for connectingthe image forming apparatus 20 with the network N1 and the network N2.Hence, the image forming apparatus 20 is capable of performing datacommunication through the communication interface 204. The printer 205may be a printer for printing and outputting a copy of printing targetdata.

The NFC device 301 may be an NFC chip or the like. The informationmedium 30 is implemented by a nonvolatile memory of the NFC device 301.If the NFC device 109 of the mobile terminal 10 approaching to the NFCdevice 301 is detected, the NFC device 301 is capable of communicatingwith the NFC device 109, reading the stored information from theinformation medium 30, and transmitting the read information to themobile terminal 10. The NFC device 301 is provided on or near the imageforming apparatus 20. For example, an NFC chip may be attached to thehousing of the image forming apparatus 20 at the predetermined positionthereof. In this case, it is preferred that the NFC chip is attached toa position where near-field communication between the image formingapparatus 20 and the mobile terminal 10 can be readily performed. Theinformation stored in the information medium 30 may be rewritten by auser using a reader and writer.

Alternatively, the NFC device 301 may be provided inside the imageforming apparatus 20 at a position where near-field communicationbetween the image forming apparatus 20 and the mobile terminal 10 can beperformed, instead of being provided on the external surface of theimage forming apparatus 20. Moreover, attaching the NFC device 301 tothe image forming apparatus 20 is not necessarily required. For example,the NFC device 301 may be arranged in a vicinity of the image formingapparatus 20 or on a guide plate placed in a path to the image formingapparatus 20.

By using the above-described hardware configuration, the image formingapparatus 20 and the information medium 30 according to the firstembodiment perform various processes which will be described later.

The printing system 1 according to the first embodiment may beimplemented by a functional configuration as shown in FIG. 5. FIG. 5 isa diagram showing a functional configuration of the printing systemaccording to the first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 5, the mobile terminal 10 of the printing system 1 mayinclude an information acquisition unit 12, a connection proprietydetermination unit 13, a UI display unit 14, a communication unit 15,and an information storage unit 16. The communication unit 15 mayinclude a first communication unit 151, a second communication unit 152,etc. On the other hand, the image forming apparatus 20 of the printingsystem 1 may include a print function unit 21. The image formingapparatus 20 is capable of receiving a process execution request fromtwo or more networks N1 and N2.

The information acquisition unit 12 may be implemented by the CPU 106,the NFC device 109, etc., and is configured to acquire from theinformation medium 30 two or more communication information items forcommunicating with the image forming apparatus 20 through near-fieldcommunication.

The connection propriety determination unit 13 may be implemented by theCPU 106, etc., and is configured to determine which of the two or morenetworks by which the mobile terminal 10 and the image forming apparatus20 are connectable to each other is to be selected for communicationbased on the communication information items acquired from theinformation medium 30. Specifically, the connection proprietydetermination unit 13 according to the first embodiment is configured todetermine which of the network N1 and the network N2 by which the mobileterminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20 are connectable to eachother is to be selected for communication based on the communicationinformation items acquired from the information medium 30.

The UI display unit 14 may be implemented by the CPU 106, the displaydevice 102, etc., and is configured to generate a UI (user interface)screen and display the UI screen.

The communication unit 15 may be implemented by the communicationinterface 107, etc., and is configured to communicate with the imageforming apparatus 20. More specifically, based on the result of thedetermination by the connection propriety determination unit 13, thefirst communication unit 151 is configured to communicate with the imageforming apparatus 20 via the network N1, and the second communicationunit 152 is configured to communicate with the image forming apparatus20 via the network N2.

The information storage unit 16 may be implemented by the CPU 106, theROM 105, the SSD 108, etc., and is configured to store communicationinformation 1000 (see FIG. 6) acquired by the information acquisitionunit 12 and read out the stored communication information.

The print function unit 21 may be implemented by the printer 205, etc.,and is configured to print printing target data included in a print jobthe execution of which is requested by the mobile terminal 10. Inaddition to the print function unit 21, the image forming apparatus 20may further include a scan function unit for generating image data(electronic data) from a read document, a copy function unit forreproducing a read document, a facsimile function unit for performingFAX transmission of a read document or electronic data via a telephonenetwork, etc.

The information medium 30 may be implemented by the NFC device 301 andis configured to store the communication information 1000 forcommunicating with the image forming apparatus 20 to which theinformation medium 30 is attached. The information medium 30 isconfigured to transmit the communication information 1000, stored in theinformation medium 30, to the mobile terminal 10 through the near-fieldcommunication in response to receiving a request from the informationacquisition unit 12 of the mobile terminal 10.

The communication information 1000 stored in the information medium 30is described with reference to FIG. 6. In addition, the communicationinformation 1000 stored in the information storage unit 16 of the mobileterminal 10 is essentially the same as the communication information1000 stored in the information medium 30. FIG. 6 is a diagram forexplaining an example of the communication information 1000.

As shown in FIG. 6, the communication information 1000 includes thefirst communication information 1100 for communicating with the imageforming apparatus 20 via the network N1, use propriety information 1200indicating the use propriety of communication via the network N2, andthe second communication information 1300 for communicating with theimage forming apparatus 20 via the network N2. Namely, the communicationinformation 1000 has two or more communication information items,including at least the first communication information 1100 and thesecond communication information 1300.

The first communication information 1100 is information needed for themobile terminal 10 to communicate with the image forming apparatus 20via the network N1 (e.g., an in-company LAN connected via a wirelessLAN). The first communication information 1100 may include a first IFaddress (which is an IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 in thenetwork N1), an SSL (secure sockets layer) communication (whichindicates the presence of the SSL communication in the network N1), etc.The first communication information 1100 does not include an SSID or apassword for connecting with the in-company LAN from the access point 7.As described above, it is assumed that the employee 8 has the authorityto connect with the network N1 and the SSID and the password are setbeforehand in the mobile terminal 10 of the employee 8. If an SSID and apassword for an in-company LAN should be set in the first communicationinformation 1100, the mobile terminal 10 of the visitor 9 will beallowed to connect with the in-company LAN using the first communicationinformation 1100. Based on the assumption that an SSID and a passwordare set beforehand in the mobile terminal 10 of the employee 8, only theminimum information item (the IP address) is stored in the firstcommunication information 1100. According to the first embodiment,connecting the visitor 9 with the in-company LAN is inhibited, andconnecting the employee 8 with the in-company LAN is permitted. Namely,only the mobile terminal 10 which is currently connected with thein-company LAN is permitted to connect with the image forming apparatus20 using the first communication information 1100.

When the connection propriety determination unit 13 has determined thatthe mobile terminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20 are notconnectable with each other via the network N1, the use proprietyinformation 1200 indicates whether communication via the network N2 canbe used. For example, in the communication information 1000 shown inFIG. 6, the use propriety information 1200 is set to “YES.” Hence, whenthe connection propriety determination unit 13 has determined that themobile terminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20 are notconnectable with each other via the network N1, the mobile terminal 10performs a process to attempt to communicate with the image formingapparatus 20 via the network N2 in the case of the example shown in FIG.6. On the other hand, when the use propriety information 1200 is set to“NO”, the mobile terminal 10 cannot communicate with the image formingapparatus 20 via the network N2.

For example, the use propriety information 1200 may be used for billingcontrol purposes. The service fee of the image forming apparatus 20 maybe charged on an as-used basis, such as on a total number of copiesbasis. For example, when the image forming apparatus 20 is arranged in acompany A, regardless of whether an employee 8 of the company A or avisitor 9 to the company A who has used the print function of the imageforming apparatus 20, the company A is charged for the service fee.Hence, in a case of the image forming apparatus 20 arranged at a placeof the company A where many visitors 9 appear, it is undesirable for thecompany A to permit the use of the print function by the visitors 9.

On the other hand, in a case of the image forming apparatus 20 arrangedin a city office or a library, it is necessary to meet the visitors'demands for using the print function. In this case, a coin mechanism maybe attached to the image forming apparatus 20 arranged at a publicplace, and the use of the print function by the visitor 9 may bepermitted in the range of the payment by the visitor 9.

In a case of the image forming apparatus 20 arranged at a place wherethe use of the print function by the visitors 9 is rare or a billingmechanism is installed, the use of the print function by the visitors 9may be permitted. Thus, the use propriety information 1200 may be usedto control the use propriety of the image forming apparatus 20 by thevisitors 9.

In addition, use propriety information of the network N1 may also beincluded in the first communication information 1100. For example, whenthe network N1 has a problem on security, such use propriety informationmay be used to prevent the employee 8 from communicating with the imageforming apparatus 20 via the network N1.

The second communication information 1300 is information needed for themobile terminal 10 to communicate with the image forming apparatus 20via the network N2 (for example, P2P communication in Wi-Fi directmode). The second communication information 1300 may include a second IPaddress (which is an IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 in thenetwork N2), an SSID (service set identifier) (which is used to identifythe network N2), an encryption type in the network N2, a password, aHTTP (hypertext transfer protocol) port number of the image formingapparatus 20 when communicating via the network N2, a HTTPS (HTTP overSSL/TLS) port number of the image forming apparatus 20 whencommunicating via the network N2, etc. When no encryption data is usedby the image forming apparatus 20 for communication, the communicationis possible even if there is no password.

The above-described information items included in the firstcommunication information 1100 and the second communication information1300 are an example. Various kinds of information needed to performcommunication via the network N1 or the network N2 may be included inthe communication information 1000. In the above-described communicationinformation 1000, the first IP address and the second IP address differfrom each other. However, the first IP address and the second IP addressmay be the same.

When the mobile terminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20 arefurther connectable with each other via a network N3, the communicationinformation 1000 may further include use propriety informationindicating the use propriety of communication via the network N3, andthird communication information for communicating with the image formingapparatus 20 via the network N3.

Next, processes performed by the printing system 1 according to thefirst embodiment will be described.

First, a print job performed by the printing system 1 according to thefirst embodiment is described. FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram forexplaining a print job performed by the printing system 1 according thefirst embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 7, in step S601, a user selects desired printing targetdata from an application installed in the mobile terminal 10 through theUI display unit 14 and inputs a printing command. Hence, a print jobincluding the printing target data selected by the user is generated.

In step S602, in response to receiving a notification of execution ofthe print job, the UI display unit 14 of the mobile terminal 10 sends arequest of acquisition of the communication information 1000 to theinformation acquisition unit 12. The mobile terminal 10 is set in astandby state until a start of the near-field communication by the NFCdevice 109 is detected. During this period, a screen that prompts theuser to hold the mobile terminal 10 close to the information medium 30(the NFC chip) of the image forming apparatus 20 may be displayed on thedisplay device 102.

After the user holds the mobile terminal 10 close to the informationmedium 30, in step S603, the information acquisition unit 12 detects astart of the near-field communication between the mobile terminal 10 andthe information medium 30 and acquires the communication information1000 from the information medium 30.

In step S604, the information acquisition unit 12 of the mobile terminal10 stores the communication information 1000 acquired from theinformation medium 30 in the information storage unit 16.

In step S605, the information storage unit 16 of the mobile terminal 10transmits to the connection propriety determination unit 13 a request ofdetermination as to which of the two or more networks is to be selectedfor communication with the image forming apparatus 20 based on the twoor more communication information items included in the communicationinformation 1000.

In step S606, the connection propriety determination unit 13 of themobile terminal 10 performs a connection propriety determinationprocess. In the first embodiment, the connection propriety determinationunit 13 generates one of the following results of determination as aresult of the connection propriety determination process. The details ofthe connection propriety determination process will be described later.

(1) The mobile terminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20 are notconnectable with each other via the network N1 or the network N2 (theresult of determination is “unconnectable”).

(2) The mobile terminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20 areconnectable with each other via the network N1 (the result ofdetermination is “communication by the first communication unit”).

(3) The mobile terminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20 areconnectable with each other via the network N2 (the result ofdetermination is “communication by the second communication unit”).

Subsequently, when the result of determination by the connectionpropriety determination unit 13 is the item (1) above, the UI displayunit 14 performs an operation in step S608. When the result ofdetermination by the connection propriety determination unit 13 is theitem (2) above, the communication unit 15 performs an operation in stepS610. When the result of determination by the connection proprietydetermination unit 13 is the item (3) above, the communication unit 15performs an operation in step S613.

In step S607, the connection propriety determination unit 13 of themobile terminal 10 sends to the UI display unit 14 a request ofdisplaying a screen (“unconnectable” screen of FIG. 10B)) whichindicates that the mobile terminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20are unconnectable with each other.

After the request of displaying an “unconnectable” screen is received,in step S608, the UI display unit 14 of the mobile terminal 10 generatesan “unconnectable” screen and displays the “unconnectable” screen on thedisplay device 102. Hence, the user is notified that the mobile terminal10 operated by the user cannot communicate with the image formingapparatus 20.

In step S609, the connection propriety determination unit 13 of themobile terminal 10 sends a request of execution of a print job to thefirst communication unit 151.

After the request of execution of the print job is received, in stepS610, the first communication unit 151 of the mobile terminal 10 sendsthe request of execution of the print job to the image forming apparatus20. Namely, the mobile terminal 10 sends the print job to the imageforming apparatus 20 via the network N1 (the in-company LAN connectedvia the wireless LAN).

After the print job is received from the mobile terminal 10, in stepS611, the print function unit 21 of the image forming apparatus 20executes the print job and outputs a copy of the printing target data.Hence, the user can obtain a copy of the printing target data printedout by the image forming apparatus 20.

In step S612, the connection propriety determination unit 13 of themobile terminal 10 sends a request of execution of a print job to thesecond communication unit 152.

After the request of execution of the print job is received, in stepS613, the second communication unit 152 of the mobile terminal 10 sendsthe request of execution of the print job to the image forming apparatus20. Namely, the mobile terminal 10 sends the print job to the imageforming apparatus 20 via the network N2 (P2P communication in Wi-Fidirect mode).

After the print job is received from the mobile terminal 10, in stepS614, the print function unit 21 of the image forming apparatus 20executes the print job and outputs a copy of the printing target data.Hence, the user can obtain a copy of the printing target data printedout by the image forming apparatus 20.

As described above, in the printing system according to the firstembodiment, the mobile terminal 10 acquires two or more communicationinformation items for communicating with the image forming apparatus 20from the information medium 30. The mobile terminal 10 is able toexecute the print job on the image forming apparatus 20 by communicatingwith the image forming apparatus 20 based on one of the two or morecommunication information items acquired. Namely, the mobile terminal 10is able to select one of the two or more networks by which the mobileterminal 10 is connectable with the image forming apparatus 20, and ableto execute the print job by transmitting the print job to the imageforming apparatus 20 via the selected network.

Next, the connection propriety determination process at step S608 of theabove-described print job is described with reference to FIGS. 8-10. Theconnection propriety determination process is a process which determineswhich of the two networks N1 and N2 is to be selected for communicationwith the image forming apparatus 20 based on the first communicationinformation 1100 and the second communication information 1300 includedin the communication information 1000 acquired by the informationacquisition unit 12. In other words, the connection proprietydetermination process selects one of the two or more networks forcommunication with the image forming apparatus 20.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the connection proprietydetermination process performed by the printing system according to thefirst embodiment. FIGS. 9A-10B are diagrams showing examples of screensof an application displayed on the display device 102 of the mobileterminal 10. The flow of the connection propriety determination processof FIG. B is described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10.

First, the user selects printing target data from a list of printingdata displayed on the display device 102 by the application. After theprinting target data is selected, a printing-conditions screen 901 asshown in FIG. 9A is displayed on the display device 102 of the mobileterminal 10. A printing target data name 902, an icon 903 of the imageforming apparatus 20, a number-of-copies option 904, a COLOR/BW (blackand white) option 905, and a paper size option 906 are displayed in theprinting-conditions screen 901. Default setting values of thenumber-of-copies option 904, the COLOR/BW option 905, and the paper sizeoption 906, which are set up beforehand by the application, areinitially displayed, and the setting values which are finally set up bythe user are kept. Hence, when sending a request for a print job to theimage forming apparatus 20 using the mobile terminal 10, the user canperform the print job with the desired setting values (the printingconditions) by minimizing changes to the setting items.

In addition, a usage suggestion 907 including an icon 907 a and amessage 907 b indicating “touch MFP to start print job” may bedisplayed, which prompts the user to hold the mobile terminal 10 overthe NFC device 301 (NFC chip) of the image forming apparatus 20. Afterthe mobile terminal 10 is held over the NFC device 301, the informationacquisition unit 12 of the mobile terminal 10 acquires the communicationinformation 1000 from the information medium 30. The connectionpropriety determination process of FIG. 8 is started upon acquisition ofthe communication information 1000 by the information acquisition unit12.

As shown in FIG. 6, in step S701, the connection propriety determinationunit 13 of the mobile terminal 10 sends to the first communication unit151 a request of communication with the image forming apparatus 20 viathe network N1, based on the first communication information 1100included in the communication information 1000. Then, the firstcommunication unit 151 attempts to communicate with the image formingapparatus 20 using the first communication information 1100. Here, themobile terminal 10 attempts to connect with an IP address indicated bythe communication information 1100 by preferentially using the currentlyconnected network. Even if the user is an employee and the mobileterminal 10 carried by the user stores the information for connectingwith an in-company LAN, priority is given to the currently connectednetwork. When the mobile terminal 10 is currently connected with adifferent network (e.g., LTE, 3G, public wireless LAN, etc.), theacquired communication information 1100 does not include the informationfor identifying the network, such as SSID, and the mobile terminal 10cannot determine whether the currently connected network is to beswitched to the in-company LAN. Hence, in such a case, the mobileterminal 10 attempts to communicate with the image forming apparatus 20via the different network, without being switched to the in-company LAN.The first communication unit 151 attempts to communicate with theapparatus (in this example, the image forming apparatus 20) indicated bythe first IP address included in the first communication information1100 via the currently connected network. Hence, in a case of the mobileterminal 10 currently connected with 3G or LTE, the communication withthe apparatus indicated by the first IP address may be attempted via abase station of the carrier.

When the first communication unit 151 has attempted to communicate withthe image forming apparatus 20, a during-connection screen 911 as shownin FIG. 9B is displayed on the display device 102 of the mobile terminal10. In the during-connection screen 911, an icon 912 and a message 913are displayed to show that connection of the mobile terminal 10 with theimage forming apparatus 20 is under way. Moreover, a CANCEL button 914is displayed for the user to stop the connection or the print job.

Referring back to FIG. 8, in step S702, the connection proprietydetermination unit 13 determines whether the mobile terminal 10 hassuccessfully communicated with the image forming apparatus 20 via thenetwork N1 based on the result of the communication by the firstcommunication unit 151. When the communication with the image formingapparatus 20 via the network N1 is possible, the process progresses tostep S703. On the other hand, when the communication is impossible, theprocess progresses to step S704.

Here, a description will be given of how the connection proprietydetermination unit 13 determines whether the communication with theimage forming apparatus 20 is possible by using the first communicationinformation 1100. For the sake of convenience, the method of theconnection propriety determination will be described with respect toeach of the use cases 1 and 2 described above.

Use Case 1:

The mobile terminal 10 attempts to connect with the image formingapparatus 20, regardless of whether the mobile terminal 10 isdisconnected or connected with a certain network, and performs one ofthe following processes (1) to (3).

(1) The first communication unit 151 attempts to acquire MIB (managementinformation base) information of the image forming apparatus 20 via thecurrently connected network. When the MIB information can be acquired,it is determined that the mobile terminal 10 has successfullycommunicated with the image forming apparatus 20. When the MIBinformation cannot be acquired, it is determined that the mobileterminal 10 has not communicated with the image forming apparatus 20.The MIB information may be standard MIB or extended MIB. If the standardMIB can be acquired, it is determined that at least data communicationbetween the mobile terminal 10 and a certain apparatus (which ispossibly the image forming apparatus 20) is possible. If the extendedMIB can be acquired, it is determined that data communication betweenthe mobile terminal 10 and the image forming apparatus 20 which isassumed by the application of the mobile terminal 10 (the application isconfigured by assuming a specific manufacturer or a specific model ofthe image forming apparatus 20) is possible. Even when the MIBinformation can be acquired, it may be determined that the mobileterminal 10 has not communicated with the image forming apparatus 20 ifdevice information included in the acquired MIB information isinconsistent with device information of the image forming apparatus 20as the communication partner (which device information is included, forexample, in the communication information 1000 acquired from theinformation medium 30). In this manner, the connection proprietydetermination unit 13 can certainly determine that the mobile terminal10 has communicated with the image forming apparatus 20 including theinformation medium 30 from which the communication information 1000 isread. Here, the device information is information that uniquelyidentifies the image forming apparatus 20, such as a manufacturingunique number (serial number) of the image forming apparatus 20, or anMAC (media access control) address.

(2) The first communication unit 151 attempts to acquire deviceinformation via the currently connected network by using a web API(application programming interface) provided by the image formingapparatus 20. The web API may be a programmatic interface to performprocessing between an apparatus A and an apparatus B through a network(processing request method, data specification method, etc.). The webAPI is stored beforehand in the information storage unit 16 of themobile terminal 10. When the device information can be acquired, it isdetermined that the mobile terminal 10 has communicated with the imageforming apparatus 20. On the other hand, when the device informationcannot be acquired, it is determined that the mobile terminal 10 has notcommunicated with the image forming apparatus 20. Namely, when the webAPI is not unique to the manufacturer of the image forming apparatus 20,it is determined that at least data communication between the mobileterminal 10 and a certain apparatus (which is possibly the image formingapparatus 20) is possible. When the web API is unique to themanufacturer of the image forming apparatus 20, it is determined thatdata communication between the mobile terminal 10 and the image formingapparatus 20 which is assumed by the application of the mobile terminal10 is possible because the device information can be acquired. Even whenthe device information can be acquired, it may be determined that themobile terminal 10 has not communicated with the image forming apparatus20 if the acquired device information is inconsistent with deviceinformation of the desired image forming apparatus 20. In this manner,the connection propriety determination unit 13 can certainly determinethat the mobile terminal 10 has communicated with the image formingapparatus 20 including the information medium 30 from which thecommunication information 1000 is read.

(3) The first communication unit 151 attempts to acquire an MAC addressof the image forming apparatus 20 via the currently connected network byARP (address resolution protocol). When the MAC address can be acquired,it is determined that the mobile terminal 10 has communicated with theimage forming apparatus 20. On the other hand, when the MAC addresscannot be acquired, it is determined that the mobile terminal 10 has notcommunicated with the image forming apparatus 20. If the MAC address canbe acquired, an apparatus indicated by the IP address stored in theinformation medium 30 (which apparatus is possibly the image formingapparatus 20) exists, and it can be determined with high accuracy thatdata communication between the mobile terminal 10 and the image formingapparatus 20 including the information medium 30 has been performed.Even when the MAC address can be acquired, it may be determined that themobile terminal 10 has not communicated with the image forming apparatus20 if the acquired MAC address is inconsistent with an MAC address ofthe image forming apparatus 20 (which MAC address is acquired from theinformation medium 30). In this manner, the connection proprietydetermination unit 13 can certainly determine that the mobile terminal10 has communicated with the image forming apparatus 20 in which theinformation medium 30 is provided.

If a communication error or the like occurs when performing one of theabove processes (1) to (3), the first communication unit 151 may berequested to retry the corresponding process. Alternatively, if it isdetermined by performing one of the above processes (1) to (3) that themobile terminal 10 has not communicated with the image forming apparatus20, it may be finally determined by one attempt that the communicationis impossible.

The performance of one of the processes (1) to (3) enables thedetermination that the mobile terminal 10 is disconnected, or the mobileterminal 10 is connected with another wireless LAN (a public wirelessLAN), or the mobile terminal 10 is possibly connected with LTE or 3G. Inthis manner, it can be determined that the mobile terminal 10 cannotcommunicate with the image forming apparatus 20, by using the firstcommunication information 1100.

When the mobile terminal 10 is not connected with any network, themobile terminal 10 may detect through the OS that the mobile terminal 10is not connected with a wireless LAN or disconnected from any othernetwork, and it may be determined by using the first communicationinformation 1100 that the mobile terminal 10 cannot communicate with theimage forming apparatus 20. When it is detected that the mobile terminal10 is connected with LTE or 3G, the determination may be made in asimilar manner.

Moreover, when the mobile terminal 10 is not connected with any network,the mobile terminal 10 is currently not connected with the in-companyLAN, and by using the first communication information 1100, it can bedetermined that the mobile terminal 10 cannot communicate with the imageforming apparatus 20. It can be determined by using the firstcommunication information 1100 that the mobile terminal 10 cannotcommunicate with the image forming apparatus 20, without performing anyof the processes (1) to (3).

Use Case 2:

It can be understood that, in many cases in which the mobile terminal 10of the employee 8 is connected with the in-company LAN, the mobileterminal 10 can communicate with the image forming apparatus 20 by usingthe first communication information 1100.

On the other hand, when the mobile terminal 10 of the employee 8 is notconnected with the in-company LAN, the mobile terminal 10 cannot connectwith the image forming apparatus 20 by using the first communicationinformation 1100. When the mobile terminal 10 attempts to communicatewith the image forming apparatus via the currently connected networkwhich is different from the in-company LAN, such as LTE or 3G, there maybe the following situations.

(i) A certain apparatus exists at an IP address indicated by the firstcommunication information in the accidentally connected network (whichapparatus may or may not be the image forming apparatus 20). In thissituation, connection of the mobile terminal 10 with the apparatus ispossible, but the mobile terminal 10 is not necessarily connected withthe desired image forming apparatus 20, and sending a print job requestto the apparatus may become meaningless.

(ii) No apparatus exists in an IP address indicated by the firstcommunication information 1100 in the accidentally connected network.

Hence, in order to certainly determine that the mobile terminal 10 is ina state different from the above situations (i) and (ii) and hascommunicated with the image forming apparatus 20, the mobile terminal 10performs one of the above-described processes (1) to (3). Thereby, themobile terminal 10 can determine whether the apparatus with which themobile terminal 10 is connected is the image forming apparatus 20 towhich a print job request can be sent (or determine whether the mobileterminal 10 is connected with the image forming apparatus 20 via thenetwork N1).

In the use case 2, even when the mobile terminal 10 is connected withthe in-company LAN (the network N1), there may be cases in which apacket transmitted by the mobile terminal 10 of the employee 8 cannotreach the image forming apparatus 20. For example, in some case, a powersupply of a router in a communication path from the access point 7nearest to the mobile terminal 10 to the image forming apparatus 20 maybe turned OFF, and in another case, a changed IP address of the imageforming apparatus 20 may not be reflected in the information medium 30.

In these cases, when a timeout or a communication error (in HTTPprotocol, the status code of 400 is returned) is detected during theperformance of one of the processes (1) to (3), the connection proprietydetermination unit 13 determines that the communication of the mobileterminal 10 with the image forming apparatus 20 using the firstcommunication information 1100 is impossible.

When the communication between the mobile terminal 10 and the imageforming apparatus 20 via the network N1 is possible, in step S703, theconnection propriety determination unit 13 of the mobile terminal 10determines that the first communication unit 151 can communicate withthe image forming apparatus 20 via the network N1 based on the firstcommunication information 1100 included in the communication information1000.

In this case, an end-of-transmission screen 921 as shown in FIG. 10A isdisplayed on the display device 102 of the mobile terminal 10. Theend-of-transmission screen 921 is a screen indicating that transmissionof a print job from the mobile terminal 10 to the image formingapparatus 20 is completed. In the end-of-transmission screen 921, anicon 923 indicating the completion of the transmission of the print joband a message 922 indicating “END OF TRANSMISSION” are displayed. Afterthe end-of-transmission screen 921 is displayed for a predeterminedperiod of time, the screen 921 automatically disappears and theprinting-conditions screen 901 of FIG. 9A appears again. Alternatively,the printing-conditions screen 901 of FIG. 9A may be displayed when theuser presses or touches the icon 923.

Referring back to FIG. 8, in step S704, the connection proprietydetermination unit 13 of the mobile terminal. 10 determines whether useof the network N2 is possible by making reference to the use proprietyinformation 1200 included in the communication information 1000. Whenthe use of the network N2 is possible, the process progresses to stepS705. When the use of the network N2 is impossible, the processprogresses to step S708.

Hence, even when the mobile terminal 10 and the image forming apparatus20 are directly connectable with each other via the network N2 by P2Pcommunication in Wi-Fi direct mode, it can be determined whetherconnection of the mobile terminal 10 with the image forming apparatus 20by P2P communication is permitted. Generally, the security level of theconnection by P2P communication is lower than that of the connection viathe in-company LAN using the wireless LAN. It is preferred that, whenthe mobile terminal 10 of the employee 8 cannot connect with the networkN1, the employee 8 can be prevented from using the connection by P2Pcommunication even if it is a temporary use. In this manner, increasedsecurity can be provided by making the determination at step S704.

In step S705, the connection propriety determination unit 13 of themobile terminal 10 requests the second communication unit 152 tocommunicate with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N2 basedon the second communication information 1300 included in thecommunication information 1000. Then, the second communication unit 152attempts to communicate with the image forming apparatus 20 via thenetwork N2 based on the second communication information 1300. Namely,the second communication unit 152 attempts to communicate with the imageforming apparatus 20 indicated by the second IP address included in thesecond communication information 1300.

In step S706, the connection propriety determination unit 13 determineswhether the mobile terminal 10 has successfully communicated with theimage forming apparatus 20 via the network N2, based on the result ofthe communication by the second communication unit 152. When thecommunication with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N2 ispossible, the process progresses to step S707. When the communication isimpossible, the process progresses to step S708. During thedetermination at step S706, the during-connection screen of FIG. 9B iscontinuously displayed.

Here, a description will be given of how the connection proprietydetermination unit 13 determines whether the communication with theimage forming apparatus 20 is possible, using the second communicationinformation 1300. The determination at step S706 is made in the samemanner for each of the use cases 1 and 2.

It can be understood that both the mobile terminal 10 of the visitor 9and the mobile terminal 10 of the employee 8 are capable of transmittinga packet to and receiving a packet from the image forming apparatus 20using the second communication information 1300. Hence, the connectionpropriety determination unit 13 can determine whether the communicationwith the image forming apparatus 20 is possible, by performing one ofthe processes (1) to (3) described above at step S702.

Although it is rare, there may be cases in which the mobile terminal 10cannot transmit a packet to or receive a packet from the image formingapparatus 20 via the network N2. For example, in some case, the powersupply may be turned OFF and no power is supplied to the communicationinterface 204 of the image forming apparatus 20, or in another case, thecommunication interface 204 may malfunction to cause poor communication.In these cases, when no response from the image forming apparatus 20 canbe obtained, or a timeout or a communication error is detected duringthe performance of one of the processes (1) to (3), the connectionpropriety determination unit 13 determines that the communication withthe image forming apparatus 20 using the second communicationinformation 1300 is impossible.

When the communication with the image forming apparatus 20 via thenetwork N2 is possible, in step S707, the connection proprietydetermination unit 13 of the mobile terminal 10 determines that thesecond communication unit 152 can communicate with the image formingapparatus 20 via the network N2 based on the second communicationinformation 1300 included in the communication information 1000.

In this case, the end-of-transmission screen 921 of FIG. 10A isdisplayed on the display device 102 of the mobile terminal 10. Namely,the same screen is displayed, regardless of whether a print job istransmitted via the network N1 or via the network N2, and the user doesnot need to be conscious of the different networks. A screen indicatingwhether the network N1 or the network N2 via which the mobile terminal10 has transmitted the print job may be displayed on the display device102. In this manner, the user as the employee 8 can check whether he hasused the in-company LAN with increased security and the user as thevisitor 9 can check whether his print job has been transmitted via thenetwork by P2P communication.

Referring back to FIG. 8, when the communication with the image formingapparatus 20 via each of the network N1 and the network N2 isimpossible, in step S708, the connection propriety determination unit 13determines that the mobile terminal 10 cannot communicate with the imageforming apparatus 20.

In this case, an “unconnectable” screen 931 as shown in FIG. 103 isdisplayed on the display device 102 of the mobile terminal 10. In the“unconnectable” screen 931, a message 932 indicating “UNCONNECTABLE WITHAPPARATUS” and an OK button 933 are displayed. The printing-conditionsscreen 901 of FIG. 9A may be displayed on the display device 102 whenthe user presses or touches the OK button 933.

As described in the process of FIG. 8, the printing system 1 accordingto the first embodiment can reduce the labor of the users to set up thefirst communication information 1100 and the second communicationinformation 1300 to the image forming apparatus 20 connected to two ormore networks, and can automatically select an appropriate one of thenetworks for each of the users.

In step S701 of the above-described process, the connection proprietydetermination unit 13 attempts to communicate with the image formingapparatus 20 using the first communication information 1100, and in stepS705 attempts to communicate with the image forming apparatus 20 usingthe second communication information 1300. Namely, the sequence in whichone of the first communication information 1100 and the secondcommunication information 1300 is selected for the communication isfixed and determined by the order in which the communication informationitems were registered in the communication information 1000 of FIG. 6(or by the increasing order of address).

However, the sequence in which the connection propriety determinationunit 13 attempts to perform communication is not limited to thisexample. Alternatively, in step S701, the communication using the secondcommunication information 1300 may be attempted, and in step S705, thecommunication using the first communication information 1100 may beattempted.

Moreover, the sequence in which one of the plural networks is selectedfor the mobile terminal 10 (the connection propriety determination unit13) to attempt to communicate with the image forming apparatus 20 viathe selected network may be determined according to an ordered set ofpriority levels.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing another example of the communicationinformation 1000. In the communication information shown in FIG. 11, apriority level 1 is assigned to the first communication information 1100of the network N1 among the plural networks, a priority level 3 isassigned to the use propriety information 1200 and the secondcommunication information 1300 of the network N2, and a priority level 2is assigned to use propriety information 1400 and third communicationinformation 1500 of a network N3. When the priority levels of therespective networks (and the respective communication information items)are registered in the communication information 1000 in this way, theconnection propriety determination unit 13 attempts to communicate withthe image forming apparatus 20 via one of the networks which is selectedin order of the first communication information 1100 (network N1), thethird communication information 1500 (network N3), and the secondcommunication information 1300 (network N2).

FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining the connection proprietydetermination process at step S606 of FIG. 7 when the communicationinformation 1000 of FIG. 11 is used.

In step S801, the connection propriety determination unit 13 of themobile terminal 10 reads all the priority levels 1 to N of the firstcommunication information 1100, the second communication information1300 and the third communication information 1500, included in thecommunication information 1000, and assigns the priority levels 1 to Nto the respective communication items in order of decreasing precedence.This is because there may be a case in which the priority levels of thecommunication information items included in the communicationinformation 1000 are not started from 1, or they are not listedvertically in order of decreasing precedence. After the step S801 isperformed, the consecutive priority levels 1 to N are assigned to therespective communication information items. When the same priority levelis assigned to two or more of the respective communication informationitems, the consecutive priority levels may be assigned to them in theorder in which the communication information items were registered inthe communication information 1000 (or in increasing order of address).

In step S802, the connection propriety determination unit 13 sets “1” toa control variable n. Namely, the control variable n is initialized.

In step S803, the connection propriety determination unit 13 determineswhether there is any communication information item (or any of the firstthrough third communication information 1100, 1300 and 1500) to whichthe priority level n is assigned. When there is a communicationinformation item of the priority level n, the process progresses to stepS804. When there is no communication information item of the prioritylevel n, the process progresses to step S809.

In step S809, the connection propriety determination unit 13 determinesthat the mobile terminal 10 is in an unconnectable state, because thecommunication is impossible although the connection proprietydetermination unit 13 has attempted to communicate with the imageforming apparatus 20 using all of the communication information itemsincluded in the communication information 1000.

In step S804, the connection propriety determination unit 13 makesreference to the use propriety information 1200 or 1400 of the prioritylevel n, and determines whether the communication information of thepriority level n (any of the first communication information 1100, thesecond communication information 1300, or the third communicationinformation 1500) can be used. When there is no use proprietyinformation like the first communication information 1100, theconnection propriety determination unit 13 may determine that thecommunication information can be used. Alternatively, the communicationinformation 1000 may be configured to include the use proprietyinformation for each of the first through third communicationinformation 1100, 1300 and 1500. When the communication information ofthe priority level n can be used, the process progresses to step S805.When the communication information of the priority level n cannot beused, the process progresses to step S808.

In step S805, the connection propriety determination unit 13 attempts tocommunicate with the image forming apparatus 20 using the communicationinformation of the priority level n.

In step S806, the connection propriety determination unit 13 determineswhether the communication using the communication information of thepriority level n is possible. Although the situations differ in the usecases 1 and 2, the determination as to whether the communication ispossible may be made by a determination whether the connection with theaccess point 7 is possible, or by a determination based on the result ofthe performance of one of the processes (1) to (3) at step S702 or stepS706 of FIG. 8, if it is feasible. When the communication is possible,the process progresses to step S807. When the communication is notpossible, the process progresses to step S808.

In step S807, the connection propriety determination unit 13 determinesthat the communication unit 15 corresponding to the communicationinformation of the priority level n can communicate with the imageforming apparatus 20.

In step S808, the connection propriety determination unit 13 incrementsthe control variable n by one (n=n+1). Then, the process of the stepS803 and subsequent steps is repeated.

In step S809, the connection propriety determination unit 13 determinesthat the mobile terminal 10 is in an unconnectable state, because thecommunication is impossible although the connection proprietydetermination unit 13 has attempted to communicate with the imageforming apparatus 20 using all of the communication information itemsincluded in the communication information 1000.

As described above, the mobile terminal 10 has the ordered set of thepriority levels of the respective networks (and the respectivecommunication information items) stored in the communication information1000, and enables the user to communicate with the image formingapparatus 20 using an appropriate communication information item in thecommunication information 1000 which is to be used preferentially.

It is preferred that, when performing such a priority control, thepriority level of the communication information item for connecting withthe in-company LAN is higher than all the priority levels of thecommunication information items for connecting with the network of P2Pcommunication. Thereby, the employee 8 can be preferentially connectedwith the in-company LAN and the visitor 9 can be connected with thenetwork of P2P communication. However, even when the priority level ofthe communication information item for connecting with the network ofP2P communication is higher than the priority level of the communicationinformation item for connecting with the in-company LAN, both theemployee 8 and the visitor 9 are capable of communicating with the imageforming apparatus 20 via the network of P2P communication.

Moreover, such priority levels may be determined according to acommunication band of each of the networks.

Moreover, the sequence in which one of the plural networks is selectedfor the mobile terminal 10 to attempt to communicate with the imageforming apparatus 20 via the selected network may be determined based onan IP address of the mobile terminal 10 and an IP address of the imageforming apparatus 20 included in the communication information 1000. Forexample, it is assumed that the IF address of the mobile terminal 10 is“192.160.0.3”, the first IP address of the image forming apparatus 20 inthe network N1 is “192.168.20.1”, and the second IP address of the imageforming apparatus 20 in the network N2 is “192.160.0.4.” In this case,the mobile terminal 10 may preferentially attempt to perform thecommunication via the network N2 whose IP address has the samesub-network address portion “192.160.0.0” as that of the IP address ofthe mobile terminal 10, and thereafter the mobile terminal 10 mayattempt to perform the communication via the network N1 (in this case,it is preferred that the network N2 is a network for employees).

In the IP-address control described above, when the mobile terminal 10communicates with the image forming apparatus 20 via the network N2, thecommunication between the mobile terminal and the image formingapparatus 20 is performed via the selected network N2 whose IP addresshas the same sub-network address portion, and the increase in thenetwork traffic can be prevented.

Accordingly, in the printing system 1 according to the first embodiment,the mobile terminal 10 acquires from the information medium 30 two ormore communication information items for communicating with the imageforming apparatus 20. The mobile terminal 10 can communicate with theimage forming apparatus 20 via the network based on one of the acquiredcommunication information items, and perform a print job on the imageforming apparatus 20. The mobile terminal 10 selects one of the networksconnected with the image forming apparatus 20, and can perform the printjob on the image forming apparatus 20 by transmitting the print job fromthe mobile terminal 10 to the image forming apparatus 20 via theselected network. Therefore, even when the mobile terminal 10 cannotcommunicate with the image forming apparatus 20 via one of the pluralnetworks, the user does not need to set anew in the mobile terminal 10 acommunication information item for communicating with the image formingapparatus 20 via another network of the plural networks. Hence, the timeand effort of the user and the management of the printing system 1according to the first embodiment can be reduced.

The information acquisition unit 12 is an example of an acquisition unitin the claims. The connection propriety determination unit 13 is anexample of a determination unit in the claims. The communication unit 15is an example of a connection unit in the claims.

Second Embodiment

In the foregoing embodiment, it has been described that the imageforming apparatus 20 may be an image projection apparatus (projector).In the second embodiment, a case in which the image forming apparatus 20is an image projection apparatus (projector) will be described.

In the following, the elements in the second embodiment which areessentially the same as corresponding elements in the first embodimentare designated by the same reference numerals, and a description thereofwill be omitted. Hence, only the differences of the second embodimentfrom the first embodiment will be described.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a functional configuration of an imageprojection system according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG.13, the configuration of the mobile terminal 10 is the same as that ofthe first embodiment shown in FIG. 5. However, the mobile terminal 10shown in FIG. 13 may communicate with an image projection apparatus 22,instead of the image forming apparatus 20 of the first embodiment shownin FIG. 5. The information medium 30 may be arranged in the imageprojection apparatus 22 or in a vicinity of the image projectionapparatus 22 and the image projection apparatus 22 may include an imageprojection unit 23. The information medium 30 is the same as that of thefirst embodiment described above.

The image projection apparatus 22 modulates image data based on theknown DLP (digital light processing) system or LCD (liquid crystaldisplay) system, and projects an image on a screen, a wall, etc. Theimage data is transmitted from the mobile terminal 10 to the imageprojection apparatus 22 via the network N1 or N2. The image projectionunit 23 generates a projection image from the image data by a projectionengine based on the DLP system or the LCD system.

FIG. 14 is a sequence diagram for explaining an image projection processperformed by the image projection system according to the secondembodiment. Steps S601 to S608 in the process of FIG. 14 are essentiallythe same as corresponding steps in the process of FIG. 7, and thereforea description thereof will be omitted. Steps S609 to S614 in the processof FIG. 14 differ from corresponding steps in the process of FIG. 7, andtherefore a description will be given of steps S609-S614 in the processof FIG. 14.

In step S609, the connection propriety determination unit 13 of themobile terminal 10 sends an image projection request to the firstcommunication unit 151.

After the image projection request is received, in step S610, the firstcommunication unit 151 of the mobile terminal 10 sends the imageprojection request to the image projection apparatus 22. Namely, themobile terminal 10 transmits the image projection request and image datato the image projection apparatus 22 via the network N1 (the in-companyLAN connected via the wireless LAN). The image data is generated from animage which is currently displayed on the display device 102 of themobile terminal 10 or selected by the user.

After the image projection request is received from the mobile terminal10, in step S611, the image projection unit 23 of the image projectionapparatus 22 projects the image on a screen, a wall, etc. Hence, theuser can project a desired image by using the image projection apparatus22.

In step S612, the connection propriety determination unit 13 of themobile terminal 10 sends an image projection request to the secondcommunication unit 152.

After the image projection request is received, in step S613, the secondcommunication unit 152 of the mobile terminal 10 sends the imageprojection request to the image projection apparatus 22. Namely, themobile terminal 10 transmits the image projection request and image datato the image projection apparatus 22 via the network N2 (P2Pcommunication in Wi-Fi direct mode).

After the image projection request is received from the mobile terminal10, in step S614, the image projection unit 23 of the image projectionapparatus 22 projects the image on a screen, a wall, etc. Hence, theuser can project a desired image by using the image projection apparatus22.

When the mobile terminal 10 requests the image forming apparatus 20 toperform a print job, the mobile terminal 10, after the print job is sentto the image forming apparatus 20, may be set in a standby state untilthe end of the print job. On the other hand, when the mobile terminal 10requests the image projection apparatus 22 to project images, the mobileterminal 10 is required to send image data to the image projectionapparatus 22 for each of the images.

When a static image displayed on the display device 102 of the mobileterminal 10 is updated by a user (including an image change, a change ofzooming, a change of a display range, etc.), or when a selectedprojection image is changed by a user, the mobile terminal 10 isrequired to transmit image data to the image projection apparatus 22.When moving images are displayed on the display device 102, the mobileterminal 10 is required to capture the moving images periodically,generate image data from the captured images, and transmit the imagedata to the image projection apparatus 22. The format of image data maybe any of JPEG, TIFF, GIF, and PNG, which is consistent with that of theimage projection apparatus 22.

Moreover, the mobile terminal 10 may transmit a file including imagedata to the image projection apparatus 22. Examples of the file mayinclude a PDF file, an MPEG file, etc. In this case, the imageprojection apparatus 22 is required to open the received file, transformthe image data into an image, and project the image.

As described above, in addition to the advantageous effects of the firstembodiment, the image projection system according to the secondembodiment can communicate with the mobile terminal 10 in a networkappropriate for performing wireless communication, and transmit thenecessary data including image data to the image projection apparatus.

As described in the foregoing, when transmitting a request to anapparatus connectable with plural networks, the information processingprogram product according to the present invention can transmit therequest to the apparatus via a selected one of the networks without theneed for a user to select one of the networks.

The information processing program product, the information processingapparatus and the information processing system according to the presentinvention are not limited to the above-described embodiments and variousvariations and modifications may be made without departing from thescope of the present invention.

The present application is based on and claims the benefit of priorityof Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-130950, filed on Jun. 26, 2014,and Japanese Patent Application No. 2015-032198, filed on Feb. 20, 2015,the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

1. An information processing program product comprising: anon-transitory computer-readable medium having a program recordedthereon that is executable by a processor of an information processingapparatus, the processor being configured to transmit a processingrequest to an apparatus via one of plural networks, including a firstnetwork and a second network, with which the apparatus is connectable,the program when executed causing the processor to implement functionsof an acquisition unit configured to acquire first communicationinformation for connecting with the apparatus via the first network andsecond communication information for connecting with the apparatus viathe second network; a determination unit configured to determine whethercommunication between the information processing apparatus and theapparatus via the first network based on the first communicationinformation is possible; a connection unit configured to connect theinformation processing apparatus with the apparatus via the secondnetwork based on the second communication information when thecommunication via the first network is determined as being impossible;and a request unit configured to transmit the processing request to theapparatus via the first network when the communication via the firstnetwork is determined as being possible, and transmit the processingrequest to the apparatus via the second network when the informationprocessing apparatus is connected with the apparatus via the secondnetwork.
 2. The information processing program product according toclaim 1, wherein the program when executed causes the processor todetermine whether communication between the information processingapparatus and the apparatus via the second network based on the secondcommunication information is possible when the communication via thefirst network is determined as being impossible, and connect theinformation processing apparatus with the apparatus via the secondnetwork based on the second communication information when thecommunication via the second network is determined as being possible. 3.The information processing program product according to claim whereinthe program when executed causes the processor to acquire one or morethird communication information items for connecting with the apparatusvia a third network different from the first and second networks, andconnect the information processing apparatus with the apparatus via thesecond network or via the third network based on the third communicationinformation items when the communication via the first network isdetermined as being impossible.
 4. The information processing programproduct according to claim 1, wherein the program when executed causesthe processor to determine whether device information that uniquelyidentifies the apparatus is acquired via a network corresponding to oneof the first and second communication information, and determine, whenthe device information is determined as being acquired via the network,that the communication between the information processing apparatus andthe apparatus via the network is possible.
 5. The information processingprogram product according to claim 1, wherein the program when executedcauses the processor to determine whether device information thatuniquely identifies the apparatus is acquired via a networkcorresponding to one of the first and second communication informationaccording to a predetermined priority level, and determine, when thedevice information is determined as being acquired via the network, thatthe communication between the information processing apparatus and theapparatus via the network is possible.
 6. The information processingprogram product according to claim 4, wherein the device information isa manufacturing unique number of the apparatus, and the deviceinformation is included in management information base information whichis acquired via the network.
 7. The information processing programproduct according to claim 1, wherein the program when executed causesthe processor to acquire plural communication information items forcommunication with the apparatus, each corresponding to one of theplural networks, from an NFC tag provided on the apparatus by near-fieldcommunication.
 8. An information processing apparatus comprising: aprocessor configured to transmit a processing request to an apparatusvia one of plural networks, including a first network and a secondnetwork, with which the apparatus is connectable, the processorincluding an acquisition unit configured to acquire first communicationinformation for connecting with the apparatus via the first network andsecond communication information for connecting with the apparatus viathe second network; a determination unit configured to determine whethercommunication between the information processing apparatus and theapparatus via the first network based on the first communicationinformation is possible; a connection unit configured to connect theinformation processing apparatus with the apparatus via the secondnetwork based on the second communication information when thecommunication via the first network is determined as being impossible;and a request unit configured to transmit the processing request to theapparatus via the first network when the communication via the firstnetwork is determined as being possible, and transmit the processingrequest to the apparatus via the second network when the informationprocessing apparatus is connected with the apparatus via the secondnetwork.
 9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8,wherein the processor includes a second determination unit configured todetermine whether communication between the information processingapparatus and the apparatus via the second network based on the secondcommunication information is possible when the communication via thefirst network is determined as being impossible by the determinationunit, and the connecting unit connects the information processingapparatus with the apparatus via the second network based on the secondcommunication information when the communication via the second networkis determined as being possible by the second determination unit. 10.The information processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein theacquisition unit is further configured to acquire one or more thirdcommunication information items for connecting with the apparatus via athird network different from the first and second networks, and theconnecting unit connects the information processing apparatus with theapparatus via the second network or via the third network based on thethird communication information items when the communication via thefirst network is determined as being impossible.
 11. The informationprocessing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the determinationunit is configured to determine whether device information that uniquelyidentifies the apparatus is acquired via a network corresponding to oneof the first and second communication information, and, when the deviceinformation is determined as being acquired via the network, thedetermination unit determines that the communication between theinformation processing apparatus and the apparatus via the network ispossible.
 12. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8,wherein the determination unit is configured to determine whether deviceinformation that uniquely identifies the apparatus is acquired via anetwork corresponding to one of the first and second communicationinformation according to a predetermined priority level, and, when thedevice information is determined as being acquired via the network, thedetermination unit determines that the communication between theinformation processing apparatus and the apparatus via the network ispossible.
 13. The information processing apparatus according to claim11, wherein the device information is a manufacturing unique number ofthe apparatus, and the device information is included in managementinformation base information which is acquired via the network.
 14. Theinformation processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein theacquisition unit is configured to acquire plural communicationinformation items for communication with the apparatus, eachcorresponding to one of the plural networks, from an NFC tag provided onthe apparatus by near-field communication.
 15. An information processingsystem comprising: one or more apparatuses to perform a predeterminedprocess; and an information processing apparatus connected with each ofthe apparatuses via one of plural networks, the information processingapparatus including a processor configured to transmit a processingrequest to one of the apparatuses via one of the networks, including afirst network and a second network, with which the one of theapparatuses is connectable, the processor including an acquisition unitconfigured to acquire first communication information for connectingwith the one of the apparatuses via the first network and secondcommunication information for connecting with the one of the apparatusesvia the second network; a determination unit configured to determinewhether communication between the information processing apparatus andthe one of the apparatuses via the first network based on the firstcommunication information is possible; a connection unit configured toconnect the information processing apparatus with the one of theapparatuses via the second network based on the second communicationinformation when the communication via the first network is determinedas being impossible; and a request unit configured to transmit theprocessing request to the one of the apparatuses via the first networkwhen the communication via the first network is determined as beingpossible, and transmit the processing request to the one of theapparatuses via the second network when the information processingapparatus is connected with the one of the apparatuses via the secondnetwork.